Why?

"What do you think I want with you?" Casimiro asked.

Nova narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means?"

"Why do you keep answering with a question?"

"I don't know, why do I?" he asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.

Nova could have stomped her foot in frustration or punched someone, but instead chose the nonviolent path.

She took a deep breath. "What do you want with me?" she asked again.

"Ah, practicing those anger management techniques I see," Casimiro said calmly, feeling satisfied when 'Stardust' gritted her teeth and stomped her foot. He found the vein popping out of her neck to be quite amusing.

"You're so lucky I can't physically reach your stupid face- because if I did, it would be MUTILATED!" Nova shouted, the wind carrying her voice.

Casimiro chuckled. "I'm sure. But no, what I want with you is the same thing I've wanted for years…"

Nova rolled her eyes. "Pffft! Yeah, yeah. To kill me, I know. I wanna kill you so it's only fair, I guess."

"Who said I wanted to kill you?"

Nova blinked. "I thought… it was, like… common sense… I dunno…"

Casimiro shook his head. "If I wanted to kill you," he chuckled, "you'd already be dead."

Nova gave him a deadpan expression. "Ha-ha," she said sarcastically. "You're hilarious. Like you could ACTUALLY kill me, hahaha…" She pretended to wipe a tear from her eye, laughing. "You can't kill me the same way I can't kill you."

"And how is that?"

"We just can't. It's not possible. Sure, we've both tried, but it never works. It also comes down to the rules we've set. And the honor code you surprisingly follow."

"What? You think me a morally corrupt man?"

"Yes," came her immediate reply. Before… "Well, I did. Before I saw that you abide by the same rules. Like, you never hit your enemy in the back, or you never fight with someone unarmed."

Casimiro nodded solemnly.

Nova hesitated to ask, but eventually decided to get it over with. He probably already knew anyway.

"This isn't about the necklace, right? Cuz I would think you wouldn't be-"

"No, I don't care about that," Casimiro interrupted. "I just wanted to find you."

"…If you wanted to find me, but not to kill me… What did you want?"

"Many things, but I'll keep our meeting tonight brief," he said, walking closer to her.

"Holy mother of… You're so tall," Nova whispered.

Casimiro ignored her and handed her a black folder. "I want you to help me with this."

"What's in it for me?" Nova asked apprehensively, gently taking the folder and leaning away from him.

"It's all in here," Casimiro said, tapping the folder. "Read it and think about it. We can talk after you decide."

Casimiro walked towards the door and opened it.

"How will I know when-" Nova shouted after him.

"I'll find you," he said and closed the door.

Nova blinked and looked back down at the folder.

"Okey-dokey, then," she mumbled.

Static filled her ear again, but slowly started to dissipate.

//-dead-//

//-fault-//

//*sobbing*//

Nova tapped her ear piece. "Max?"

//*silence*//

"Hello? Max-?"

//NOVA?!//

"No, it's God—" she rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's me!"

//*sobbing* OH MY GOD I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! THANK GOD! IM SO SORRY ABOUT ALL THE MEAN THINGS I SAID TO YOU!//

Nova sighed. "It's oka-"

//-AND ALL THE HORRIBLE THINGS I SAID ABOUT YOU! *sobbing*//

"-ay. Wait-"

//…//

"What?!"

//What?//

"WHAT HORRIBLE THINGS DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME?!"

//Uh, oh geez! Look at the time! I'm late for-for- uhh-my eye appointment! See you at home! So glad you're safe! Love you!//

"MAX! DONT YOU DARE OR I SWEAR-!"

//*click*//

Nova seethed, crushing the ear piece in her hand. "I'm gonna smack that idiot!"

•|•

"Micah, ping her phone," Casimiro said, taking a sip of his whiskey.

Micah nodded to the man at the desk in front of a computer.

"What would you like it to say, sir?" Micah asked, turning to Casimiro.

"'Choose carefully and take your time. We'll be in contact.'"

"Yes, sir," Micah said, the man at the computer started typing away.

Casimiro walked into his office and closed the door. He sat down at his desk and stared at the computer screen in front of him. On it was a collection of pictures of the vigilante "Stardust". She was not only the biggest threat to his empire, but also seemingly perfect in every way. If only she wasn't gunning for his throat.

At first, several years ago, Stardust appeared out of nowhere and started small. She took out smaller gangs and stopped shipments before directly coming to him- but no matter how hard she tried to kill him, she was never successful. Of course, she'd gotten close- he'd admit that. She'd gotten much closer than anyone else had before. But she never took those shots she could have taken— the ones to his back or face or when he didn't have a weapon. She valued justice, and was determined to get rid of him no matter what. She'd put plenty of his people in prison and has only ever killed one.

Casimiro sighed, remembering when she killed his third in command- Lars. The man earned that spot, but he wasn't fair and Casimiro didn't see it until later. Lars had been fighting with her and threw sand in her eyes. Stardust had taken a bullet to the stomach when she had grabbed the gun, but she managed to turn it around and the trigger was pulled again.

Casimiro remembered watching it on the cameras— how Lars' body fell on hers and she started to panic.

She started to cry.

Casimiro had been intrigued. He wondered why the person trying to kill him was crying over someone who was trying to kill her.

She had disappeared for a while after that and Casimiro was starting to think she wouldn't come back- but when she finally did, she came back a lot stronger and hit back harder.

Even thought his happened, she never, EVER, played dirty.

And Casimiro honored that.

He's done things he's not proud of, killed lots of people and become numb to it, but he couldn't, for the life of him, kill her.

And he didn't know why.

Perhaps it was the fact she survived so long and couldn't be killed by anyone.

Or maybe it was that there was no one like her. No one who fought like her, no one who was as determined to bring him down as her, and no one who would continue to pursue this life but would cry after killing someone— and accidentally, too.

Casimiro blinked suddenly, wondering why he spent and spends so much time thinking about her. She didn't exist in any system, but he could probably find her if he started really searching.

Not that he would, he respected her too much to play that way. They only existed to each other in the Underworld.

But why?

Why couldn't he kill her?

Why couldn't he stop feeling the respect he felt for her?

Why couldn't he just leave matters alone?

Why couldn't he… stop thinking about her?